Big Blue Button troubleshooting

Unable to login to the session

When you are have clicked the button in Moodle to join the conference, but nothing

happens.

1. Make sure you have Flash installed

The quickest way to verify that Adobe Flash is installed is to google “Flash Version

Check” and follow the first link.

If it appears that you do not have Flash installed, you can install Google Chrome web

browser. Chrome comes installed with Flash and is always up-to-date. Or you can install

Flash http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

If you are trying connect to Big Blue Button using an Apple iPhone, iPod or iPad, you

will get an indication that Flash is not installed. Apple does not support Flash in these

platforms. You must use a Windows PC, Apple Macintosh or a tablet that supports

Flash.

2. Do you have the latest version of Flash installed?

BigBlueButton requires (at a minimum) Flash version 11.2. The latest version as of this

document is 11.9.

As in the section above, google “Flash Version Check” and follow the first link.

When clicked, their web page should show a box similar to the one below:

Resolution:

• If Flash is not installed, your browser will usually prompt them to install

flash. Follow the steps to install flash, then restart the browser.

• If their computer is locked down and you cannot install Flash, see if Google

Chrome is installed. Chrome automatically keeps the version of Flash up-to-date.

Troubleshooting Audio problems

Unable to hear audio in the session

1. Did you initially hear video when you joined?

Sometimes BigBlueButton will disconnect a user’s audio. If this occurs, click the

headset icon to log out and back into the audio bridge.

2. Can you hear audio outside of BigBlueButton?

Can you hear audio when playing a YouTube video or a system sound.

Every operating system (Mac, Unix, and PC) has a default audio playback device. Flash

uses the default audio playback device for sound.

The most common problem that the default audio playback device is set to be muted. On

Windows, this is visible in the lower right-hand corner.

To unmute the speakers, click on the speaker icon. A vertical audio slider will

appear. Click the speaker button to enable the speaker.

Move the audio slider up/down and you should now hear a volume.

If their volume control is not in the taskbar, you can access it through the Windows

control panel under the tool “Adjust System Volume”.

.

If you do not hear audio in BigBlueButton, check the default audio device.

On windows, select Control Power > Sound

There should be a default playback device -- it has a check mark as shown above. See if

another devices is showing activity. If so, make that device default (select it, then click

“Set Default”).

Return to the browser, refresh the window and try joining the audio conference

again. You should now hear sound.

Others are unable to hear me speak

1. Do you have a microphone?

Do you have a microphone, either built into their laptop, a webcam, or a headset (headset

is preferred).

If BigBlueButton fails to detect *any* microphone, it will still join the user into the

session, but the user will not be able to speak.

2. Choose a different microphone

Click the headset twice. The first time is to leave and the second time is to rejoin so you

can test the audio.

You should see the Audio Settings dialog (shown below).

Click the Test or Change Microphone button and try to choose a different microphone

from the drop-down menu. Choose the microphone that has the strongest signal when

talking into the headset (or to the laptop if they are using a built-in microphone).

3. Confirm the user can be heard

To confirm that you can be heard. Join the session. Once joined, ensure you are

unmuted and that your microphone icon highlights when you are talking.

Again, if you don’t see the microphone highlighted, leave the audio conference (click the

headset icon), then rejoin (click the headset icon again) and choose a different

microphone.

If all else fails, advise your moderator that you can’t get audio. We can provide a

telephone connection to the conference bridge for situations like that.